In Memory of Adored Actress Elizabeth Pena: 10 Years After Her Tragic Death By Alcohol

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It's been ten years since beloved Cuban-American actress Elizabeth Pena passed away due to complications from alcohol abuse.

Pena was only 55 years old when she died on October 14, 2014, in Los Angeles. She suffered from cirrhosis of the liver "due to alcohol" and had acute gastrointestinal bleeding hours before her demise, causing her heart to stop. She had the disease for months, and it progressed severely in a short time before her death.

A Closer Look

Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on September 23, 1959, Elizabeth Pena was raised in New York City. Her parents were Cuban immigrants Mario and Estella Margarita Peña, and she had one sister, Tania.

A progressive talent, Pena was proud of her Latin heritage and would become one of the founders of the off-Broadway Latin-American Theatre Ensemble.

In 1975, a teenage Pena also became a founding member of the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors.

Two years later, she graduated from New York's High School of Performing Arts, now the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts.

Elizabeth subsequently found periodic work in repertory theater and on TV in commercials.

In 1979, she made her big screen debut in the independent Spanish-speaking feature El Super, which is about Cuban refugees.

From there, Pena portrayed several independent and rebellious characters, which displayed a strong independent spirit.

In Later Years

In later years, Elizabeth Pena was seen in classic feature films such as La Bamba, Rush Hour, and Jacob's Ladder.

She was also later known for her appearances on TV's Modern Family, as the mother of Sofia Vergara's character, Gloria.

A talented voiceover artist, Pena also provided her unique vocal timbres to animated movies like Disney-Pixar's The Incredibles, the Justice League TV cartoon series, and Seth MacFarlane's hit prime-time, small-screen drawn-entry American Dad.

One of Pena's last performances was in the El Rey Network drama Matador.

In the End

Like too many talented individuals in and outside of the entertainment industry, Elizabeth Pena, who was married twice with two children was severely hampered by a chronic alcohol problem.

However, her creative spirit lives on in her enormous and respected body of work on film and television.